Meet Boxings Next Big Stars on November 9th: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Jaron “Boots” Ennis
By: Ivan Gallegos
On November 9th, two of boxing's biggest future stars will defend their world titles at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Jaron "Boots" Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs) defends his IBF welterweight world title against Karen Chuhadzhyan (24-2, 13 KOs), and Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) will be defending his WBC and Ring Magazine super flyweight against Pedro Guevara (42-4, 22 KOs). These fights will be the last test for these two fighters before seeking their big unification fights with the other world champions of their respective divisions.
Let's start with the event's co-headliner, Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, a southpaw with a lot of power for his weight division.
His fast and snappy jab blinds his opponents and ruins their rhythm, while his precise footwork helps him create angles that most other world-class fighters cannot match. Bam, at the young age of 24, is already on a ton of lists of top ten pound-for-pound fighters, which makes sense as he is a two-division world champion, beating all the top guys at flyweight and three out of the four kings of the super flyweight division in Juan Francisco Estrada, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras by unanimous decision. There is a lot of hype around Bam as a legend slayer, a moniker he can confirm by beating the last of the four kings, Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzales, to become undisputed at super flyweight.
Bam is the future of the lower-weight classes. If you haven't jumped on the hype train, you should now as he is one of boxing's next stars, if he isn't already.
Now let's talk about the event headliner, Jaron "Boots" Ennis, who might be one of the most avoided fighters in the world. Boots is a switch hitter who can comfortably fight both Orthodox and Southpaw, seamlessly switching stances throughout the fight to generate new angles and looks to break down his opponents. When it comes to boxing, Boots is the complete package, with his versatile and slick defense making him untouchable at times. His powerful jab and punch power make it look like he is always punching with bad intentions. But he is not just a power puncher, he is also a great combination and counterpuncher.
Boots is what you would call a master of the sweet science of boxing.
He looks to become undisputed at welterweight before moving up to junior middleweight, where all those super fights with Virgil Ortiz and Terrence Crawford await him. But it seems like the other world champions at welterweight either want a crazy amount of money to fight him or are fearful and would rather fight their mandatory challengers. Jaron 'Boots' Ennis already has the skills to beat anyone in front of him, he just needs to conquer a big name to announce himself to the world. But first, he has to get past Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9th.